Melo and Barbour met at City Fitness on Moorhouse Ave, where Barbour worked, and had been together for seven months. They trained together every day in preparation for the competition.

Brazilian-born Melo said she was nervous when the day began and completely forgot her routine when she got onstage.

It was the first time Melo had competed in a bodybuilding competition and she said Barbour would have been proud of her performance.

"I'm very proud to be here as well, it's keeping my spirits up, I have a focus every day.

"He was an amazing person, a good friend and a good partner."

Fellow bodybuilder and friend Sarah Ward attended the event in Barbour's honour and to support Melo.

"We were both backstage and we both said at the same time, we've got goosebumps.

"As far as we are both concerned, he is here with us."

Ward is a South Island International Federation of Bodybuilding (IFBB) competitor and said Barbour had been an inspiration in her bodybuilding career. She intended to take the sport to a professional level.

"He always had my back in my bodybuilding and he was just an incredible person."

She said the competition was another step in the process of coming to terms with his death.

"There is a memory of him here and I think he would like that, because this was his life-changing event."